School Workforce Census (SWF)

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The next census will take place in autumn 2011. This is an annual census and is a statutory return so it is compulsory for all schools to submit a return.

The census reference date is Thursday 3rd November and the blade is open until the 9th December.  

The COLLECT familiarisation site is now available for the Autumn 2011 return. This site can be accessed from the COLLECT software page or by accessing the COLLECT Portal Familiarisation page.

Welcome to the Wiltshire Council School Workforce Census web pages. This site will be used to keep schools up-to-date on the School Workforce Census requirements and timelines etc; and includes links to key documents.

The School Workforce Census (SWC) has been commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE). Submission of the School Workforce Census return is a statutory requirement on schools and Local Authorities, by virtue of regulations SI2007/1264 made under Sections 113 and 114 of the Education Act 2005.

Rationale and Benefits

The School Workforce Census (SWC) was conceived as a replacement for a number of existing data collection surveys - and will thus retain information on all school workforce personnel in a single, reliable database. In addition to school teachers, the Census will collate data on support staff with regular service at one or more schools in the County.

The majority of data to be collected through the SWC is that which many schools already hold and use. It is believed that the Census will make school databases more accurate; improve data security; and enhance data analysis conducted by both the local authority and DfE.

By putting the School Workforce Census on a statutory basis, schools and local authorities: i) are protected from any legal challenge that they are breaching a duty of confidence to staff members; and ii) do not need to obtain consent for the provision of information from individual members of the workforce (They must, however, meet their obligations to Data Subjects under the Data Protection Act).

There are significant benefits to both schools and local authorities from this rationalisation, both in terms of reduced efforts to provide data and the ability to analyse data with more flexibility. For example, the data will support the Local Authority with a number of human resource strategies – e.g. the aggregate data will provide staff turnover rates; and enable age profiles to be produced of both teaching and support staff, disaggregated for example by gender, ethnicity, role etc.

Related links

• Schools HR Online

Last updated: 11 November 2011